A Schoolboy Feud
by snappydog
Summary: Two school friends are bitten, one by a Lycan and one by a vampire. How will their new abilities affect their lives - and how will they react when they discover that their races are at war with each other? Rating explanation within.
1. Transformation

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Underworld, its characters or any of the other stuff in the movies. This is set before the events of the first movie, which is why Selene does not yet have the silver bullets.

Selene ran down the alley, knowing that Raze was close behind. Taking a sharp turn, she leapt into the air and grabbed a protruding roof tile, pushing with her legs so that she performed an elegant flip, drawing her pistols upside-down, and landed quietly on the balls of her feet in a cautious crouch. The Lycan's screams of rage were loud, and she winced. Hoping that the entire street wouldn't be woken, she pushed off again and soared into the air, taking careful aim and firing each of her pistols once. The bullets (not yet the silver nitrate they would become) shot through the air and embedded themselves in the wolf-man's chest.

'Blood!' Raze yelled, ripping off his jacket as he began to change, his Lycan fur and teeth erupting from his already formidable human body.

'Dog!' Selene replied, though her shout was more controlled. She didn't want to wake the people who were, at that moment, safely asleep in their beds; it made victims for Raze, which would make him stronger, and witnesses she would have to deal with.

Selene growled; she hated killing innocents. Raze, however, was not innocent by a long shot.

'Come on then, Lycan,' the vampire hissed, keeping her guns levelled at the beast.

Raze gave a cry of hatred and pounced; Selene dived to her right and brought her weapons up, pulling the triggers.

'What the hell?!' It was a new voice, neither vampire nor Lycan.

'What is that thing?' a second voice cried.

Both Death Dealer and Lycan turned to the new arrivals. Both were young, in their teens, and judging from their stances they appeared to know each other. The vampire's enhanced hearing enabled her to hear their heart rates, and she could tell that they were both frightened beyond any terror they had known before.

Firing another bullet into Raze's open maw, she dashed at the youths, covering the twenty-metre distance in a scant second. They stood there, mouths wide open, until she grabbed them and leapt into the air, traversing the rooftops with ease and dropping them in a park about a mile away. Sprinting back to where she had left Raze, she reloaded both of her pistols with fresh bullets in preparation for the kill, but the werewolf was gone. A trail of blood showed clearly the path he had taken.

'Uh-oh,' breathed the vampire.

Raze had followed her.

***

Chris and Alex stood in the middle of the unfamiliar green, panting.

'What the hell were those things?' Alex, the curly-haired taller of the two, managed to cough.

'I don't know,' Chris replied, breathing heavily between words, 'but the woman one looked good in that outfit.'

'She'd look better without it, though.'

At that Chris gave a snort of laughter and ended up smacking himself on the chest, almost unable to breathe.

'What about the werewolf thing though?' Alex asked, having almost recovered all his breath.

'I don't know. Maybe it was just a big dog?'

'Too big.'

They stood in silence for a moment, and probably would have for much longer had Raze not erupted from the boughs of a tree.

***

'No!' shouted Selene as Raze dived on the taller of the pair. 'You bastard lycanthrope!'

The other teenager was screaming, running from the scene; jumping towards him, the vampire caught the boy and charged towards the Lycan.

Holding one arm out and shielding Chris with the other, Selene struck Raze with the heel of her hand; the Lycan barely noticed any pain, but the impact made it drop Alex.

Then Raze turned on Selene.

The werewolf ripped Chris from her protesting grasp with its claws, breaking his bones effortlessly as it shook him like a rag doll and threw him aside.

'Screw you!' Selene screamed, blasting yet more bullets into Raze's hide.

With a roar, the Lycan finally relented and leapt away, back to its coven.

Dashing to the taller boy, Selene shook him by the shoulder. She recoiled as she saw the bite marks in his shoulder. Meanwhile, the other boy was stirring.

'Alex…' he tried to say, but burst out in a coughing fit mixed with uncontrollable sobs.

'Nothing we can do for him,' the Death Dealer said, talking more to herself than to the semi-conscious boy. 'He's one of them now.'

She strode to the younger of the pair and quickly examined him, but soon saw that there was no hope. He had not been pierced by tooth or claw, but nearly every bone in his body had been broken. There was only one chance for him.

'Don't make me choose,' Selene hissed into the night air. 'I won't make another innocent a creature of the night against their will. Not so young…'

But the boy's cries moved her almost to tears herself, and, unable to resist the lure of saving a life - and gaining a new ally - the vampire found her mouth inching slowly towards Chris's neck…


	2. Integration

DISCLAIMER: Once again, I do NOT own any Underworld-related things.

Chris woke up. That was a surprise in itself.

'What the…' He patted his body, astonished to discover that it was whole and unmarked. For he remembered the thing grabbing him, breaking his bones. He should be dead, and he knew it.

'It comes as quite a shock, doesn't it?' said a female voice. 'Being alive.'

It was a nice voice, though somewhat cold, but though he scanned his surroundings - now realising he was still in the park - he could not see its source.

'There's something you need to know,' the voice continued.

Chris stood up, amazed that he was able to do so.

'What is it? I haven't been asleep for years or something, have I?' he joked.

There was an ominous silence.

'Not quite,' the voice replied after a long time, and Chris realised that it was the woman who had been fighting that creature. The creature that should have killed him.

'What, then?' he asked more seriously, dreading the answer.

'Well…' Chris jumped as a hand touched his shoulder; spinning, he saw the pale, leather-clad woman standing right behind him. She tossed her head back, her black hair fanning out behind her, and stared straight into the boy's eyes. 'You're a vampire.'

***

Alex woke up. That was also a surprise - indeed, he was far more surprised than Chris to find himself alive, since his last memory was of being ripped apart by a bloodthirsty werewolf-creature.

'Wake up!' an almost impossibly deep voice bellowed in his ear as his eyes began to open. At that Alex jumped so high he actually hit the ceiling of the room he now realised he was in, and fell to earth with a painful-sounding thump. But he felt nothing.

'What the hell have you done to me?!' he yelled at the black man watching him curiously, waving his suddenly muscular arms around violently.

'He's made you one of us,' a new voice replied. This was a softer voice, though Alex detected hints of suppressed emotions in its tones.

'And what are you?' Alex asked.

The newcomer bared his pointed teeth, his eyes turning amber.

'We're Lycans.'

***

'A… a… How the hell can I be a vampire?!' Chris yelled at the woman, who looked suddenly guilty. Ashamed.

'Because I made you one,' she said quietly.

Chris started. 'You mean… you're a vampire too?'

She nodded. 'Yes.'

'But… but…' This was too much for the teenager. 'But you carried me and you didn't bite me then!'

'You were going to die! Please,' the female vampire pleaded, 'you have to understand… I didn't want to let you die. I've caused enough death already.' She turned away, her hair obscuring her face.

'I understand,' Chris said, surprising himself. The vampire turned back, her face hopeful. 'But what happened to Alex?'

'Alex?'

'The other boy. Taller than me, curly hair?'

'You don't remember?'

'No.'

The woman sighed. 'He… he was…'

'He's not… dead?'

'No, but… he's…'

Chris recalled something she'd said earlier, something that filled him with dread. 'You said you'd already caused enough death… and we're undead… did you bite him?'

'Of course not,' she snapped; Chris drew back. Now that he knew what she was, she seemed a lot more frightening. Seeing that she had scared him, she continued in a softer tone: 'I don't know what happened to him.' (This was of course a lie; she knew full well what he had been bitten by.)

'That thing…' Chris said, more to change the subject than anything else.

'It was… a werewolf.'

This was too much. Much too much.

'What?!' the teenager yelled, his fingers straightening and jabbing out to his side in what was meant to be a gesture of anger. The digits thrust into an oak tree, sending splinters of wood everywhere and felling the thick plant. 'You're a vampire, now I'm a vampire and werewolves are real too? Can't things just stay myths?!'

'Regrettably not,' the woman who had turned Chris into a vampire said.

'Zombies aren't real too, right?'

'I don't think so.'

Chris slumped to the ground. Although he was sure she had been at least a few metres from him, the vampire was suddenly standing over him, extending her hand.

'I'm Selene, by the way.'

Chris took her hand. 'Chris.' He shook it briefly, and fainted.

***

'My name is Lucien,' continued the newcomer. 'That's Raze.' He gestured to the muscular black man, who did not so much as nod a greeting.

Looking at their stances, Alex thought that Lucien was probably the one in charge here. And he could tell Raze wasn't a big fan of that.

'How does this work, then? You're… Lycans… sounds a bit like 'lycanthrope' meaning 'werewolf'… you look like werewolves when you…' he paused and cast around for the right word, '… transform. You're werewolves, in short.'

'Correct,' Lucien said.

'So I'm now a Lycan too, right?'

'Yes.'

'But how come you -' he gestured to Raze '- were in wolf form and it wasn't even a full moon?'

'We're not like mythological werewolves,' Lucien told him. 'We're…'

'Different.'

Alex looked at Raze; it was the first really coherent word he'd spoken, and exhibited his incredibly deep voice far better than the wake-up yell he'd given earlier.

'So how do I…?'

'You'll see,' answered Lucien; the question didn't need to be finished, 'when it gets to the next full moon. It won't be pleasant. But after that, you'll be able to transform at will. You'll have a new life!' The head Lycan's voice was rising in excitement.

'There are other things out there, aren't there?'

Raze's head came up slowly and he looked into Alex's eyes. Alex couldn't help but notice a strange orange shade to the Lycan's irises.

'Other things,' agreed Lucien.

'Bloods.' Raze spat the word with disgust.

Alex glanced at Lucien quizzically; the Lycan leader folded his arms and leant back.

'Vampires.'


	3. Revelations

DISCLAIMER: Again, I don't own Underworld, blah blah blah. Please see the other two disclaimers for details of exactly what I don't own.

Chris walked uneasily through the school corridor. People stared at him as he passed, and he heard their hearts beating steadily. One pattern in particular caught his attention, and he turned to look at the girl as he strode past her. Her heart was beating faster. Smiling to himself, Chris turned away and strode towards his next lesson, Chemistry. He knew what was happening; as a vampire his skin was pale and his eyes bright, and any imperfections his human form had had were gone. He was, in short, beautiful. It was not a word h

he'd ever thought to apply to himself.

'Hey,' he said, striding into the room and plonking himself next to his friend, Sam.

'Hi,' the tall boy replied, and as Chris leant down to put his bag under the desk he caught a whiff of Sam's warm breath. It was… glorious. He could smell everything Sam had eaten over the last day, at least, and although that was an almost overpowering smell, the scent of human life was delicious. Chris felt his mouth moisten as he heard the pulsing of Sam's heart. He was hungry.

'Erm… Back in a minute.' The young vampire bolted out of the door just as their teacher entered; Chris darted past him without so much as an apology.

Stood outside the room, in the blissfully clean air, Chris took deep breaths. Selene had told him that this might happen, but had not mentioned how to combat the desire. She'd given him a bag of blood, which he had concealed in the bottom of his schoolbag, but that was back in the room. Chris sighed. He'd just have to resist.

***

Alex sat, staring into space, in the classroom, listening to his English teacher waffle on about something. He wasn't listening, only hearing the odd word. From the scattered snatches of talk he caught, he thought the lesson was something to do with poetry. He heard his name mentioned and glanced up; the middle-aged teacher saw his black eyes and stuttered something before turning to someone else. That suited Alex fine; he hunched over his desk, ignoring his classmates completely.

When the lesson ended and the teacher dismissed the class, Alex swung his bag over his shoulder and left quickly, slamming the door behind him. As soon as he was out in the corridor, he let out a loud, wolfish growl. He didn't know what was wrong; Raze wasn't the most explanatory person on earth, and Lucien had vanished soon after telling him what he had become.

'Hungry,' he uttered softly, his voice coming out in a low moan that came from somewhere deep in his throat.

His classmates, people he had previously called friends, swarmed out of the classroom, throwing frightened looks at him as they went past. He inhaled deeply, smelling adrenaline and hearing their hearts beat faster in fear. He wasn't sure how, if at all, he'd changed physically, but clearly he had become a terrifying person.

Alex moaned as he considered the prospect of another lesson. Skiving seemed like a much more attractive prospect, so he decided to ditch his classes for the remainder of the day. He thought he might feign sickness so that he would be sent home early; he didn't think he could take another four hours of lessons - not including lunch.

He was supposed to be turning left, heading for the language rooms, but instead he went right and headed down the humanities corridor towards the stairs. Going down the staircase, he spotted Chris walking towards the school office, and followed him.

'Chris!' he shouted after his friend.

Chris turned, and Alex saw that there was something different about him. He couldn't put his finger on it, but it was clearly there. Something a bit… off. 'Alex?' Chris whispered. Without his newly enhanced hearing Alex would probably not have heard him, but he sounded almost disbelieving.

'What happened to you?' Alex asked, catching up to him. This was the one person he could talk to, because Chris had been there at his transformation. 'Was it… real?' Of course, he couldn't trust Chris with the whole truth; he had no intention of mentioning the fact that he was a werewolf.

'You mean that creature?'

Alex nodded.

'Yeah. It was real.'

'But what happened? To you, I mean?'

'That woman took me away from there. Said it was dangerous.'

'What is she?'

'I don't know. What was the big guy?'

Alex shrugged. 'No idea.'

'But…' Chris seemed to be digesting something carefully. 'What happened?'

Alex didn't know what he was going to say. He had almost assumed Chris would be dead, and had fabricated no story that might explain his survival.

'It's OK if you can't tell me,' Chris offered.

Alex was grateful, but wondered why Chris suddenly seemed to look so much like the strange leather-clad woman. 'So what are you doing?'

'Skiving.'

'Same.'

Chris chuckled. 'You never used to be a skiver.'

'Neither did you.'

'True.'

They headed for reception together and opened the doors, not bothering to give a reason for their departure. A woman who worked in the office called after them, but they carried on regardless. They pushed open the second pair of doors, the set that led to outside.

Then the wind blew.

Their scents crossed.

'Blood,' Alex growled.

'Dog,' Chris hissed.

***

Chris couldn't believe it. Alex, a Lycan! It was unfathomable, but he supposed the tall, curly-haired young man had always been a bit wolfish. Chris could joke about it if he wanted to, but he knew all too well what this meant.

They were enemies now.

'She turned you,' Alex said, and his voice was a terrifying deep growl.

'She saved my life,' Chris spat back.

'He saved mine.'

'What?' Chris couldn't believe what he was hearing. 'If he hadn't bitten you, your life wouldn't need saving!'

Alex's eyes changed, turning an orange-yellow. Chris recoiled, startled; the full moon was not for another week, and Selene had told him that Lycans only turned for their first time on the full moon. After that, they would be free to change at will, but so far there had been no full moon since Alex being bitten.

'Don't make me hurt you,' Alex threatened, but Chris took a confident step forwards, his eyes turning electric blue as he changed into his vampire self.

He saw Alex step backwards slightly as the wolf-man noticed the elongated canines extending from the corners of the vampire's slightly open mouth.

'You can't hurt me,' he said. 'Not yet.'

'Yes, I can,' Alex growled out of the corner of his mouth.

The Lycan seemed about to attack, but the receptionist had emerged from the doors and was shouting at them to get back inside. Chris retracted his teeth, turning back into his human form, but Alex had more trouble controlling his emotions and visibly struggled to return his eyes to their usual shade of brown.

'This isn't over,' the former friends uttered simultaneously, before allowing themselves to be taken back into the building.


	4. Guidance

DISCLAIMER: I don't know if I still have to do these, but best to be on the safe side: I don't own Underworld or anything about it.

Chris sprinted along the streets, his vampiric heart pounding under his cold skin. Alex was a Lycan. His enemy. What would happen now; what could happen now? Leaping high into the air, the vampire flew over rooftops and lampposts, not at all caring for the small boy who stared up as he soared overhead. Landing in the park where he had been turned, Chris stared around wildly. Catching a cold, almost metallic scent, he ran towards its source, quickly locating a lone vampire who was dawdling on a street corner. The vampire turned as Chris approached; he appeared to be in his mid-twenties, with long, bleached-blonde hair and hard grey eyes.

'I haven't seen you around before,' the vampire said. He was clad in an ankle-length black leather coat, a pair of dark glasses tucked into a pocket.

'I'm new to this,' Chris replied shortly. 'Where's Selene?'

'Selene?' The older vampire looked surprised. 'You know her?'

'She turned me,' Chris told him; the vampire's eyebrows rose.

'Unusual.'

'A Lycan broke all my bones and left me for dead.'

'That might explain it. She was always a touch sentimental - for one of us, at any rate.'

'So where is she?'

The vampire looked Chris over, examining him. 'Come with me.'

***

Alex stormed down the road, violently pushing aside anyone who was stupid enough not to get out of his way. A young mother with two small children crossed to the other side of the road to avoid him; he glared at them briefly before turning his attention back to the piece of paper held in his hand. His fingers traced a few lines on the map, drawing out his route to the Lycans' regional headquarters.

Wondering why Raze had given him such a badly drawn map - in case it ever proved necessary to consult with older Lycans - he turned it upside-down so as to try to make more sense of it. As it turned out, several of the lines he had mistaken for streets on a map formed writing. Alex almost grinned as he tried to make out the words; the handwriting was horrendous.

'Must be Raze's,' he muttered to himself, turning along an alley that would apparently lead him to the nearest Lycan base; the terribly scrawled words read 'Direction of get to HQ'. The appalling grammar was clearly another of Raze's many literary shortcomings.

Reaching an old-looking building that was marked on the crude map with a large X, Alex pushed open the door and wandered inside with his hands in his pockets, trying to look casual.

'Can I help you?' an old man asked. He looked as though he worked there; some sort of curator, maybe?

'I'm looking for…' Alex wondered what to say. 'I'm looking for Lucien?'

'Yes…' The old man gestured to a small, ordinary door in a corner. 'He is not expecting guests.'

'Thank you,' Alex said cautiously, wondering how much the old man knew about Lucien; he didn't smell like a Lycan. Perhaps he knew nothing, in which case the Lycans were probably planning to kill him.

Opening the door carefully, Alex slipped inside and jogged down a short set of stairs to reach a cellar, one wall filled with row after row of casks on shelves. Lucien sat in the centre of the small room, his eyes closed. Alex reached up the stairs and closed the door quietly; Lucien's eyes opened at the barely audible noise.

'You.'

'Me.'

'What do you want?'

'I need help.'

Lucien stood, a small smile creeping across his face. 'I take it Raze did not explain exactly what would happen to you?'

'No.'

'You're hungry?'

'Yes.'

'You need to feed.'

'On what?' Alex had already tried to eat a bar of chocolate, with disastrous results.

'Flesh and blood,' Lucien told him.

'I won't kill humans,' Alex said.

'Of course not. You were only so recently one of them yourself.'

'So what can I do?'

Lucien crossed to the wall of barrels, sniffing the air. Following his nose, he selected one of the casks and took it from the shelf, tossing it to Alex.

'Drink.'

Alex took the stopper from the drum, sniffing at its contents. There was a salty smell; the tang of blood. Greedily Alex lifted the barrel to his lips and drank, feeling the - somehow still warm - blood cascade down his throat. It was delicious.

'That blood has been accumulated over years from donations. No human has been harmed to acquire it.'

Alex lowered the cask momentarily, taking a deep breath. 'Why? You don't seem exactly…' He cast about for the right word '… humanitarian.'

'True. Generally I would simply rip the head off any human I could find, but we keep this store in reserve. Just in case.'

'Thank you,' Alex said, and raised the cask once more.

Lucien chuckled dryly. 'Don't mention it.'

Alex was about to leave, but stopped himself and turned back.

'There's… something else I have to tell you.'

***

'This is… Well. It's home, I suppose.'

Chris stared from his guide to the castle and back again. 'You live here?'

'Some of us do, the older ones mostly. Aristocrats and the like.'

Chris ran an eye over the massive building. It was somehow incredibly sinister, and would not have looked out of place in a horror film. Perhaps that was why the vampires liked it.

'And Selene's in here?'

'She ought to be, unless she's out chasing the dogs.'

'She does that a lot, then.'

'Yes. I suppose you could say it's her job.'

'She seems quite good at it.'

'She is.'

The vampire spoke into an intercom; Chris was surprised to see such a modern security system in such an old building. The gates opened mechanically, and the two vampires strode inside. An older vampire stood just before the castle's main entrace, long black hair sweeping down on either side of his face.

'Kraven,' Chris's guide greeted him.

Kraven merely nodded in reply. He gazed at Chris, who found himself almost sucked into the man's black eyes. 'Who's this?'

'A newbie,' the blonde vampire told him. 'He's looking for Selene.'

Kraven's glare intensified. 'Why?'

'She turned me,' Chris said, speaking to Kraven for the first time.

Kraven's face softened almost infinitesimally; he didn't look capable of a smile, but his expression was now more understanding. 'I see.'

The older vampire turned, pushing open the doors. Chris hung back, but his guide gestured that he should follow Kraven.

'You're not coming?' Chris asked.

'Nope. Places to go, Lycans to kill. You'll probably have those sort of jobs too, soon enough.'

For the first time, Chris realised what being a vampire meant. It wasn't just that he was different. He was part of a new world. A different society, an ancient civilisation in which he now had a place and a duty.

'Bye, then.'

The blonde vampire nodded and sprinted off, vanishing into the distance in just a few moments.

'Come!' Kraven called back; Chris ran after him.

They walked through halls crowded with vampires drinking from glasses filled with red liquid. Chris caught the scent and knew that it was blood. Every one of the vampires was clothed in the most extravagant outfits Chris had ever seen; the women wore long, flowing dresses of silk or some similar material, and each and every one of them was beautiful.

'These are the… nobles.' Kraven spoke the word with obvious contempt.

'What are you, then?'

Kraven glanced down as they walked; Chris, in his black jeans and casual T-shirt, felt incredibly out of place among the experienced vampires. 'I'm a Death Dealer. As is Selene.'

'Sounds like fun.'

'It is. You look like you could do it, actually; we've been looking for new recruits.'

They passed through the rooms, Chris staring around at the multitude of vampires. He hadn't realised there would be so many vampires, and that so many of them would be women. He knew it was slightly prejudiced, believing that there would be more male vampires than female, but from what he had seen of them they were a combative race, and an immensely powerful one.

'Selene!' Kraven called as they reached a new section of the castle, even darker and more sinister than the last halls.

Chris stood awkwardly under the probing gazes of several more vampires, these clad in leather outfits which stood in stark contrast to the rich outfits of the aristocratic men and women from the previous rooms. After a few moments, a black-haired woman detached herself from the crowd and walked towards Kraven.

'You called?'

Chris stared at Selene, trying to absorb every detail of the woman who had made him a vampire. He wanted to know everything about his new race, and especially about Selene. She was the closest thing he now had to a mother; his own parents had noticed something different about him, though they didn't know what it was, and had become incredibly distant. That suited Chris fine - if they found out what he was, the vampires would probably kill them.

'You turned this one?' Kraven's tone was irritated - angry, even. 'Without my permission?'

Chris stared at Kraven. The Death Dealer's expression was furious.

'He would have died,' explained Selene incredulously. 'You can't be angry at me for doing that!'

'You saved the life of a human.'

'Exactly! And now look at him! He's strong, Kraven! He's one of us.'

Kraven glanced briefly in Chris's direction. The young vampire recoiled under his black, hard gaze. 'You should have asked permission.'

'I don't need to. I'm not your queen, however much you might think I am.' Selene seemed exasperated now rather than angry. It was certainly an improvement.

Kraven pushed Chris forwards. 'Speak.'

'You remember Alex,' Chris started, unsure what to say.

Selene nodded, her face twisting in both remembrance and… was that apology?

'Well, he's, erm… He's a Lycan. That's what they're called, right?'

Selene nodded again, now looking sad. 'I know he is.'

'You didn't tell me that?! What… why… but… but he was my friend!'

'He can't be anymore.'

'Why? Why do we have to fight?'

'It's just the way it is.'

'Well, that's _shit!' Chris bellowed._

_Selene exhaled as the other Death Dealers looked on. Kraven looked disappointed; Chris guessed that it was due to his desire to befriend a Lycan._

'_You don't have to kill him. Yet.' It was a new speaker, a blonde woman who looked out of place amongst the Death Dealers; she looked far more like one of the aristocrats._

'_Go back,' Selene said. 'Never speak to him again.'_

_Kraven spluttered something, but the two women silenced him with simultaneous withering stares._

_Chris turned. And left._

_***_

'_A vampire…' Lucien mused._

_Alex waited for his response anxiously._

'_Kill him.'_


	5. Decisions

DISCLAIMER: I can't still have to do this… ah, well, better to be safe than screwed by legal divisions. I OWN NOTHING. That should do it. Apologies for the short chapter, but I promise the next will be longer.

Chris turned the gun over in his hands. He recalled Kraven's words with distaste:

'What's this for?' the young vampire had asked.

'Pest control,' replied Kraven.

Hoping that he would never have to use it, Chris stowed the pistol in his waistband and covered it with his new coat. The vampires seemed to be grooming him to become the next Death Dealer, and had provided him with all the equipment he could ever need to kill a Lycan - complete with black leather outfit. Walking away from the mansion, he headed for Alex's house. He hoped that somehow he would be able to persuade the Lycan that they could remain friends, that it didn't have to be the way the elders said it had to be.

Somehow, he wasn't optimistic that Alex would see it that way.

***

Alex sat on the rooftop of the old church that housed Lucien and his supply of blood. 'Kill him,' he whispered to himself, plucking a petal from the small white flower in his hand. 'Don't kill him.' He tugged another petal free and watched it fall to earth, spinning on a breeze.

'I could kill him,' he told himself.

'You could, but you can't.'

Alex froze. The words had come from his own mouth, but he had not consciously spoken them.

'What are you?'

'The voice in your head.' His mouth moved as the voice sounded.

'My conscience?'

'Something like that.'

'Do all Lycans get this?'

'No.'

Am I crazy? Alex thought.

'Yes,' replied the voice. 'Probably.'

'I can't kill him…'

'No. But if you fought him, you would win. You know it to be true.'

'I won't! He's my oldest friend! Why should anything change that?'

The voice quieted as Alex began to lose control of his emotions, his bones cracking loudly.

'No,' he whispered; his voice came out as a deep growl. 'It's not the full moon yet!'

Staring up at the sky, he tried to focus on the moon, semi-visible in the darkening sky. It was still less than a perfect circle by a few degrees of white crescent.

'Tomorrow,' he gasped.

'Tomorrow,' the voice agreed.

***

Chris stopped as he reached Alex's door. He sniffed the air for the telltale smell of wet dog.

'Nothing,' he realised.

The vampire looked up at the sky. The full moon wasn't for at least another day, and he had until then to speak to Alex, to try to change his mind about the inexplicable fight they found themselves in. One day. That was all he had to speak to his old friend, and then there were two options. They could either live in peace. Or they could kill each other.

***

Alex fought for calmness as his anger and fear spiralled out of control. His bones shrunk back into place as he reverted to completely human form. He was dreading the next night: his first transformation.

The voice did not speak, and Alex felt his emotions slowly fall back into a range easily dealt with. As he leapt down from the roof, he caught a whiff of the cold vampire scent; a young man on the other side of the road suddenly changed direction and sprinted towards the Lycan, hands reaching into the folds of his coat. Alex reacted without thinking as the guns came into view. He grabbed the vampire's arm and broke the bone effortlessly, and buried his teeth in the man's throat. The vampire screamed as metallic-tasting blood cascaded from the gaping wound… and with a final shuddering convulsion, Alex's first victim died.


	6. Defiance

DISCLAIMER: Underworld ain't mine. Whoo. I'd also like to apologise for the weird formatting in some of the earlier chapters. Don't know why it did that, it doesn't look like that when I'm writing it… hopefully it won't happen again. Much.

Alex stood in the middle of the street, gasping as his entire body shook. His eyes rolled back in his head as the metallic-tasting vampire blood wet his tongue. The body was immobile now; the dead vampire lay unmoving across Alex's feet. Stooping, he hoisted the body up; it was heavier than he'd expected, but he realised that with the amount of muscle vampires would have, it was only to be expected that they would weigh more than their looks let on.

'That's quite disgusting,' the voice in Alex's head said as blood spouted from the wound in the vampire's neck onto Alex's hands.

'He started it,' replied Alex.

'No, he didn't.'

'Does it matter? He's dead, and that's that.' Carrying the body to the old building that he knew housed Lucien, the young Lycan kicked open the door and headed back down the stairs, ignoring the startled look from the old man who seemed to be a sort of caretaker.

Alex dumped the body down the short flight of stairs and watched as it bounced, leaving a trail of blood. Lucien's head appeared at the bottom, his expression almost comically surprised. 'What have you done?'

Alex muttered something that could have been, 'Killed a vampire' but was in reality just a mumble.

The leader of the Lycans hoisted the body with a single hand, tossing it back into the room behind him carelessly. 'You can't just go around killing vampires.'

'I didn't mean to.'

Lucien regarded Alex closely. 'Your first full moon is tomorrow, correct?'

'Yes.'

'Come back after that, and I might have a job for you.'

'A paid job?'

'Of course not.'

Alex took that to mean an end to the conversation, and left. As he opened the doors and stepped out onto the street, he wondered what Lucien was going to do with the body. Sounds of ripping and tearing drifted up, and he exhaled loudly.

'There's your answer,' said the voice.

'That's disgusting,' Alex told it. 'That'd be like…'

'Eating a can of baked beans, but only the can and not the beans?'

'Something like that.'

***

'I won't do it,' Chris told Selene.

'It's difficult, I know,' the leather-clad woman replied, 'but you have to learn to let go of your old life. That's not who you are anymore.'

'Yes, it is.'

Selene sighed. 'I had the same problem, but I think I had it a bit harder than you.' Chris raised an eyebrow at that, and the older vampire continued. 'My parents were killed on the day I was turned.'

'Me and my best friend are supposed to be killing each other.'

'True. At least I didn't have to kill my parents myself, I suppose.' Selene looked Chris over critically. 'What are you going to do?'

'I don't know.' He rubbed at his tired eyes slowly, feeling a pit of despair opening up inside him. 'What can I do?'

'Not a lot,' she admitted. 'Why did you come to me?'

'I had hoped you could help me. Apparently that was a vain hope.'

It looked as though Selene was going to chuckle but she repressed it with apparent difficulty, instead giving a small smile which she covered with three thin, pale fingers. 'Sorry,' she muttered around her hand.

'What would you do?'

'There hasn't really been a situation like this before - not that I've heard of, at any rate.'

'That doesn't answer my question.'

'I would kill him.'

Chris swallowed, feeling a lump start to swell in his throat. 'It's a good thing you're not me, then.'

'You can't, can you?'

'Never.' The young vampire turned to leave.

'Take care of yourself,' Selene told him, softer than he'd heard her speak before.

He turned back, about to say that he would, but she had stepped towards him and caught him in a firm embrace. Unsure how to react, he patted her gently on the back, noticing that had he still been human the force of her grip would have shattered his bones. 'Can I go now?' he whispered, wondering if his ribcage was about to break.

'Go on, then,' the woman who had saved his life replied; Chris thought he detected a hint of sadness in her voice, and when she drew away he was certain he saw a tear glistening in the corner of her eye before she swiftly brushed it away.

'What…?'

'Just go.'

Chris started to walk away. He felt a terrible hopelessness at the situation he found himself in, coupled with a sudden burning curiosity as to why Selene was acting so oddly. There was something different about her, something… motherly, almost. It made a strange kind of sense: she was, in a way, his new mother.

'Goodbye,' he said quietly, and left.

***

Selene watched the young vampire leave, asking herself why she should feel so sad to see him go. It wasn't as if he was the only new 'blood' she'd ever created; far from it. Perhaps it was his youth, the fact that the child would never become a real adult physically, though he would have to mature quickly if he wanted to survive amongst the vampires. Or perhaps the impossible situation he found himself in; how could he possibly find a viable way out of that dilemma?

She watched him as he walked. It was a shame she'd turned him so young; given a few years he would have been one of the most beautiful vampires she'd ever known. But of course, that particular relationship would be an impossible one, with Kraven watching her every move - besides which, the boy probably saw her as a mother figure, certainly not somebody he could ever be with in that way.

Selene exhaled, her hair blowing up in the sudden draught. What a strange world hers was.

***

'It's coming,' the voice in Alex's head said.

'What?'

'Look up.'

Alex stared at the darkening sky. The sun was no more than a red strip on the horizon, the clouds an unusually bright shade of orange. Behind the thin layers of fluffy, condensed water, a circle of white was almost visible. The full moon.

'Beautiful,' he breathed, his face turning towards the circle in the sky.

'Careful,' the voice warned. 'You can't transform here.'

'Why not?' Alex whispered, feeling his jaw begin to dislocate and stretch, his face becoming long, becoming the snouted face of a wolf.

'Because "snouted" isn't a real word,' the voice told him.

'And you're not a real person, you're a disembodied voice in my head.'

'True.'

As his skull seemed to deform, becoming the misshapen head of a Lycan mid-transformation, Alex felt the voice trying to stop his changing. 'Let me turn!'

'It's not safe yet! What if you hurt somebody you know?'

'Then they shouldn't have got in my way.'


	7. Lycanthropy

DISCLAIMER: The last chapter had no action at all, it wasn't great, I admit - so what? Alex is gonna transform for the first time in this one… and I don't own Underworld. Yadda, yadda, yadda.

Also, sorry I've had to bump the rating up. The reason for this is that there is some graphic sort-of-sexual violence in this chapter, and there will be VERY coarse language and sexual scenes in later chapters. So if you don't like that sort of stuff… just skip those bits.

'It's time,' Alex whispered, feeling the first ray of moonlight shining on his face.

The voice, for once, was completely silent.

Alex headed for the centre of the park where he'd first been bitten; it seemed somehow appropriate. He could already feel his entire body changing, his bones and organs pulling themselves out of shape into new patterns. Clasping a hand over his chest in pain as his ribcage widened and his spine started to push itself backwards, he staggered towards the familiar grassy space.

He reached the park's centre, still moving awkwardly as waves of fresh pain rolled over him with the tiniest movement. Collapsing, he screamed aloud as the most terrible pain he'd ever felt engulfed him, his whole body writhing and jerking as it begun the transformation.

***

Chris stared up at the sky. A perfect white circle adorned the midnight-black horizons.

'It's time.'

***

Alex stared at his shaking hands, desperately trying not to scream aloud - he'd never hear the end of it from the voice. Also, he didn't want to hurt anyone unnecessarily, but that wasn't quite as important as his ego.

A small whimper escaped his lips as he felt and saw his fingers elongate, giant, hard nails sprouting from suddenly hairy digits. As the rest of his body grew with a startling crunch, he dug his long fingers into the ground, squeezing as hard as he could to distract himself from the pain; the soil was compacted in a matter of moments.

As his ribcage widened and his muscles instantly swelled, he clapped a hand to his heart in pain, unable to help a loud cry of pain. His chest burst through his baggy T-shirt and his legs erupted from his jeans. He would have been embarrassed at his nakedness but his entire body was covered in a thick coat of fur.

Then came the worst of it all. His skull changed shape, his eyes swelling out of their sockets and his nose lengthening into a long wolf's snout as yet more hair grew all over his head. Still he was changing, not one inch of his body spared the agony of every particle multiplying and dividing, every cell dying and being reborn.

***

Kraven strode through the halls. 'Stefan!'

A young Death Dealer dropped down in front of him. 'Yes?'

'Have you been up there all this time?'

'Yes.'

'Don't you have jobs to be doing?'

'I was waiting for one - speaking of which…?' He trailed off.

'We've got a new Lycan on the move.'

'Excellent.'

***

Alex sprinted through the dark park, feeling the power in his limbs. He was barely capable of higher thought, hardly aware of his own existence. All that existed to him was his instincts and his massive, incredibly powerful body.

The wind direction changed. A metallic tang crossed Alex's large nostrils. He wasn't conscious of thinking the word 'vampire'; all that his instincts told him was 'kill'.

As a cloaked shadow jumped into his path, Alex's forepaw shot forwards in the middle of a leaping stride, slicing open the midsection of his cloak, tearing the unfortunate vampire's manhood from his pelvis. Tossing the useless sack of skin aside, the Lycan spun in midair, whipping a massive paw around and decapitating the vampire with a single sweep. The body fell like a puppet with cut strings, and Alex's second victim died without a sound.

'Stefan!'

The cold voice drifted across the green space; Alex's long ears, on top of his head instead of in their normal place on either side, pricked up as they caught the vibrations of speech; his nostrils flared as they caught the smell of vampire that came with the words.

A larger figure jumped in front of Alex, spinning in the air as it drew twin pistols from underneath a large coat. Alex leapt aside, dodging the bullets, and effortlessly swatted the weapons from the vampire's hand. He wished Raze could see him now.

***

Chris leapt across the rooftops, his feet making no sound on the tiles. He'd heard Kraven's shouts from streets away, the familiar voice screaming in pain and rage.

Dropping down to land on the balls of his feet, the young vampire dashed towards the fray.

'You!' Kraven yelled. 'Help!'

'Alex!' Chris yelled.

The Lycan turned.

'It is you,' the vampire breathed.

Alex roared in his face; the stink of wet dog washed over him, made even worse by his enhanced senses.

'Don't do this.'

The fur retracted into Alex's body; the young man stood in the middle of the street, naked without embarrassment. 'I'm sorry,' he said, and then he transformed again and loped away.


End file.
